Waves
by SixPerfections
Summary: Worm AU. Ripple from the St. Louis Wards has been transferred to San Francisco and she isn't too happy about it. Original story set in the Wormverse.
1. Welcome to the Bay 101

**A/N:** This idea has been floating around in my head for a while. I wanted to write something Worm related but at the same time I wanted to challenge myself and write something that would really force me to flex those creative writer muscles. So I give you this, an AU story set in the Wormverse. If you don't like OC's then you should turn away because this story is set in San Francisco with an entirely new cast of characters and a new MC. The Triumvirate, etc are still a thing. This is just set on the other side of the country.

So without further ado...

OOOOOOOO

Welcome To The Bay

OOOOOOOO

I couldn't help feeling a sense of dread in my belly as I looked up at the place that would be my new home… hopefully only for a few months if I had anything to say about it. The Protectorate SFB (San Francisco Bay) Headquarters was, I could admit, more impressive than what I was used to. It managed to have an architectural flair similar to what I'd seen in the rest of town combined with that feeling of scale and authority everyone wanted to have. It was also quite a bit bigger than the headquarters I came from. As nice as all that was I couldn't help but wish I'd somehow fought harder to stay there.

With a resigned sigh I grabbed my backpack and stepped out of the car. The PRT guy who'd driven me from the airport got out and rushed to get my duffle from the trunk of the black sedan. He seemed a little nervous around me. I could guess why.

I shook my head at the stupidity of it all. Six months ago some genius in _Parahumans Monthly_ decided to run an article about the "Ten Strongest Wards" in whole of the Protectorate. The article on the magazine got circulated like candy around the Protectorate and PRT and for a few days it was all the rage around the water cooler. Guess who made the list? Ever since then the Wards and the Protectorate had ribbed me about it endlessly while the PRT guys had started being more polite and giving me a wider berth.

Or maybe I was just projecting. Maybe this guy was just nervous around capes, even (mostly) good guys like me.

"Here you go ma'am," he said putting my duffle down next to me, "I'd carry it inside for you but, you know, don't want to give the game away," he said. Young guy. Probably new to get saddled with chauffeuring a new Ward around.

I gave him a genuine smile despite my trepidation at being there. "So do I need to tip you now? Uhh… Jake right?"

He chuckled nervously and seemed inordinately pleased that I had remembered his name. "No need for that Miss De Luca. Just doing my job."

"Allright," I said and gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder, "but no more of that 'ma'am' and 'Miss De Luca' BS ya hear? If we're going to talk you're gonna have to call me Geri."

His smile turned more genuine and relaxed at that. "Heh, sure Geri," he said, "I'll remember that."

I gave him another smile. "Well take care Jake." Picking up my duffle bag I winked at him playfully as I made my way through the glass doors of the Protectorate Headquarters.

The lobby was a large open concept with a thirty foot ceiling, every surface looking modern and polished to a mirror sheen. Even though it was early in the afternoon there was very light traffic in the lobby which wasn't much of a surprise given that the building was on an island accessible only though a myriad of security screens and checkpoints. I approached the middle age woman seated on the large reception desk.

"Good afternoon. How may I help you?" the secretary said politely.

"Geri De Luca. I'm the new transfer from St. Louis," I said with a polite smile.

I saw her look at me for a second before her eyes widened as realization set in. "Oh! You're the new- … Well, welcome to the Protectorate SFB. We'll get you set up and sent up right away. If you could just give me your ID…"

It took thankfully only a couple of minutes. Procedure I noticed was stricter and more thorough here than it had been in St. Louis. She looked at my ID, ran it through a machine, had me fill out some paperwork, the usual stuff. Then she pulled out some Tinkertech machine that scanned me from head to toe right there in front of the reception desk looking for who knows what. When I gave her a questioning eyebrow she answered my unspoken question.

"This is normal screening for all guests and newcomers who are granted access to the higher levels. I don't know the details but it supposedly can screen for a wide variety of Master/Stranger effects," she answered. I just nodded at that, trying to remember if they had any criminals like that running around the city.

It took a total of about fifteen minutes before the secretary handed me my new security card. If it was anything like the one I'd had in St. Louis it was biometrically coded so it would only work for me. "Just take the elevator, slide the card and push the fifth floor. You new friends will be there to greet you," she said looking pleased. I guess she must be happy that they were getting new bodies.

"I thought one of the 'adults' would be here to greet me," I said. Not that I minded but it seemed odd that a Protectorate member wouldn't be there to greet the newest Ward.

Her smile faltered replaced with a grim look. "I'm sorry dear, normally that would be the case but the whole team was deployed not ten minutes ago. The Gore are out there making a mess of things again and Tyrant Rex himself was spotted. I'm sure you'll get to meet them once they finish up and come back, hopefully with that stupid lizard buried in containment foam."

Well that was an ominous start to my career in San Francisco. I knew I had been transferred – against my very loud protests – because the gang situation in the Bay was getting out of control. However things had to be worse than I imagined if some gangs were willing to cause a scene and fight it out with the Protectorate in the middle of the afternoon. I adjusted the strap of my backpack feeling a little bit out of my element.

"Well I guess I'll just head up and meet my new team then," I said.

The secretary – Alberta her nametag said – smiled and nodded towards the elevators. "Go right ahead dear. And welcome to San Francisco."

OOOOOOOO


	2. Welcome to the Bay 102

1.02

OOOOOOOO

When the elevator doors opened on the fifth floor I was greeted by a brown haired teen smiling broadly at me. She was tanned and kind of cute in a way that probably made her seem younger than she was. Her hair was straight and just past her shoulders and she looked at me with a friendliness and openness you hardly ever see from a complete stranger.

As I stepped out of the elevator she walked up to me and stuck out her hand. "You're Gertrude right? Nice to meet you."

I winced at that. "Look if you want to be friends don't ever call me Gertrude. I hate that name," I said half-jokingly. Reaching out I shook her hand. "Call me Geri. Geri De Luca."

"Wendy James. Pleasure to meet you _Geri De Luca_," she said teasingly. Her handshake was firm if a little too enthusiastic. "I volunteered to show you around and help you get settled. It's always good to get another girl on the team."

"More girls are always good," I agreed with a little smirk. More girls were _always_ good even if the girls that could join the Wards were too young for my tastes.

"Come on I'll show you where your room is and you can put all your stuff down," Wendy said and twirled heading off down the hall.

Picking up my bag I quickly caught up with her. Before I could come up with a topic of conversation she beat me to it.

"So I hope this doesn't come across as rude but you don't look like a De Luca," she said letting the implied question hang in the air.

"Why's that?" I said playing dumb. Some people would get flustered at this point when they got afraid of accidentally insulting me and sometimes it was fun to watch them squirm. Turned out Wendy wasn't one of those people.

"You look super Asian. I wouldn't have pegged you for having an Italian last name," she said plainly without coming across as rude. I'd only said a handful of words to Wendy and I was already starting to like her.

Of course she was right. I looked about as much as a De Luca as white-girl Wendy looked like a Chen or a Wang. I was athletic with chin length black hair and just enough of a bust to be enticing. And yes very very Asian. I'd been dealing with questions like that for a few years now. I took a few seconds to pick my words carefully.

"I'm half Chinese, quarter Japanese and quarter American. De Luca comes from the American bit of that mess," I answered truthfully.

"Huh," Wendy replied, "well that's an exciting ancestry. More exciting than mine at least, I'm just Black Irish," she said. Then she turned to me and grinned. "So can you guess which one of the SF Wards I am? You didn't ask so I guess you think you've figured it out."

I couldn't help but smile back at her enthusiasm. Folding my arms I tapped my chin, pretending to be deep in thought as I looked her up and down. "Well going by how you look you must be… Escudo," I said with certainty.

Her eyes widened and she shot me a glare which wasn't all that effective because she was trying not to grin. "Escudo? Really? You think I'm almost six feet tall and run around dressed in a white outfit?" she asked trying to sound serious and failing pretty horribly at it.

She definitely wasn't six feet tall. Maybe five-four at the most, about three inches shorter than me. I shrugged. "They say the camera adds about ten inches," I said.

"I'm pretty sure that's ten pounds. Also what about the fact that Escudo is obviously a dude?"

"I thought all the San Francisco Wards were dudes," I said with a *mostly* straight face.

She slapped my arm lightly and was making a half-hearted attempt to look stern through her giggles. It was good to know someone here enjoyed my sense of humor. I couldn't help it and joined in the snickering. Maybe my time in "the Bay" as the locals called it wouldn't be so bad.

"How old are you anyway?" I asked her.

"Sixteen. You're seventeen right?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, "how did you know?"

She shrugged. "Magicman brought it up. Escudo is turning eighteen in just over a month so technically you would be next up to lead the Wards after that which is what we were talking about. Ah here we are," she said opening a door in sight of a spacious living room.

Wendy went inside and I followed. The room was new and was pretty big. Solid looking wooden desk, dresser and a full sized bed. It had a window and a door that led to a small private bathroom.

"This is pretty nice," I said sitting on the bed and testing its springiness, "nicer than I expected actually."

"Was you room in St. Louis really that bad?" Wendy teased.

"I didn't have a room in St. Louis. I lived with my mom," _who caved like a rotten egg and signed the paperwork to get me sent here, _I grumbled in my mind.

"Really?" said Wendy looking genuinely surprised.

"Yeah," I said puzzled by her reaction, "why? Don't you live with your parents?"

Wendy shook her head. "No way. Constellation requires that all the Wards live on site. It's always been that way here as far as I know."

I frowned at that. "Why? And how can Constellation require that? Isn't Director Puck… well, the Director? He's the one who calls the shots."

Wendy shrugged. "Not around here. Officially, sure, but everyone knows Constellation gets her way on pretty much everything. She's pretty much the one who calls the shots here in the Bay."

I hummed at that not sure what to think about this new information. Constellation was the leader of the Protectorate SFB and a hell of a powerful Master. That and she was pretty famous nationwide. Why would Director Puck let someone else take over some of his authority though? First thing that came to mind was blackmail. Probably something more benign though.

I was distracted form my thoughts when Wendy plopped down on the bed next to me. "You still haven't guessed which Ward I am," she said with a raised eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes good naturedly. "Osteo Girl is at least four inches taller than you. That would make you Rewind."

"Ding! Got it in one," she said, her face beaming with an infectious smile. Wendy was a hard girl not to like.

"So what _are_ your powers exactly?" I asked. While powers of the Wards and Protectorate members were not really a secret often the heroes would keep some of the finer details to themselves.

"Pretty much what PHO and _CapeWiki_ say about me," she said, "I can restore anything I touch to a state it was anytime in the last hour."

"_CapeWiki_ said you were a healer?"

"Eh, sort of? I'm the closest thing to a healer the good guys have in the Bay anyway. If someone is injured and I can get to them before the hour is up I can restore them good as new. It also works on buildings and stuff. They often get me out to places after a battle to fix some of the collateral damage," she said, and I got the impression she wasn't completely thrilled about being a free repair service for the city.

"Cool," I said nodding, and meant it. There could be a lot uses for a power like that. "Anything else?"

"Well not much. My only offensive power is that when I restore someone it takes a few seconds for their brain to 'reboot'. As long as I'm touching someone I can restore them continually leaving them essentially unconscious," she said shrugging. Then she smirked at me. "What about you, Miss 'Top Ten Strongest Wards in the Protectorate'?"

I groaned at that and threw myself back on the bed. "You guys read that and _still_ remember it? I swear I'm never going to live that stupid article down."

"We all read _Parahumans Monthly_. Suck it up. Now tell me about what you can do," she said enjoying my apparent discomfort.

I sighed dramatically but wasn't as annoyed as I pretended. "You know my cape name right?"

"Sure. It's Ripple," Wendy said plopping down next to me.

"Right. So… I can propagate waves through any solid or liquid. I can make the waves be of nearly any amplitude, intensity or period that I want."

"Yeah I got no idea what that means. You're going to have to dumb it down for me."

I snorted at that. "I thought the California education system was supposed to be all that? Anyway it basically means I can make waves that travel along the ground that are as big or go as fast as I want."

"Cool," she said sounding thoughtful, "how big can you make the waves?"

I shifted a little uncomfortably. The truth was I'd never completely cut loose with my powers. "Well I did demolish some condemned buildings as a charity thing slash PR stunt back in St. Louis. Does that give you an idea?"

She nodded. "Big destructo powers, got it. Anything else?"

I smiled at that. This wasn't something I often got to show off. "Yup. Here, grab my hand and try to use your power on me."

She hesitated for less than a moment before touching my hand. Almost instantly her eyes went wide. "Holy crap, my powers don't work on you!" she said in wonder.

I smiled at that, amused at her reaction. "Shaker 7 Trump 3 here. Trump because I'm immune to powers that would affect me directly. Strikers, Masters and Thinkers that want to use their powers on me directly are out of luck. Even Tinker tech doesn't work all that well on me."

She propped herself up on her elbow and looked at me, and for the first time I saw Wendy looking something other than smiley or cheerful. Her eyes were concerned and slightly panicky. "You know this means I can't heal you if you get hurt don't you?" she said sounding very unhappy about the situation.

I shrugged trying to appear unconcerned. "Guess I'll just have to be careful then. Never had a healer in St. Louis. The only time I got hurt Tinker tech fixed me up… eventually."

"Yeah well St. Louis is one of the safest big cities in the whole country. You're almost certainly going to get hurt here in the Bay at some point. Things have been getting really, really crazy here since The Gore rolled into town," she said, brow furrowing in displeasure as if she could somehow fix the problem if she scowled hard enough.

I couldn't really argue because most of what she said was true. St. Louis was one of the major cities with the lowest incidence of Parahuman crime in the continent and those that did commit crimes rarely took things to a lethal level of violence. I'd spent most of my year in the St. Louis Wards stopping purse snatchers and breaking up minor gangs. In my time there I'd only gotten into two cape fights all together and they hadn't been that dangerous. I was somehow both scared and eager to jump into the fray of the much more violent and dangerous streets of San Francisco.

"What is your Striker rating anyway?" I said changing the subject.

She huffed and laid back down on the bed thankfully dropping the subject. "That part's really annoying. Since cape ratings only take into account _threat levels_ I'm only rated as a Striker 2. That in _no way_ takes into account how useful my power is." It sounded like that was a sore point for her. I thought about it. It did seem kind of low.

"Can't you, like, have infinite bullets in a gun?" I asked.

"I know!" she said, "I should be _at least_ a Striker 3."

I couldn't help it. I tried to hold it in but I ended up snickering at her whining tone. She sat up and punched me in the arm, hard.

"Ow!" I said rubbing my arm. It wasn't entirely faked either.

"Come on," she said bouncing off the bed, "that's enough of you laughing at my pain and suffering. Let's see if we can find Shades and Escudo."

OOOOOOOO


	3. Welcome to the Bay 103

1.03

OOOOOOOO

Where the Wards lived made me think a bit of the apartments that college students used with individual rooms but large shared living and kitchen areas. When Wendy led us back to the common room I spotted a guy cooking in the kitchen who could only be Escudo, the leader of the San Francisco Wards.

He looked up when he heard us enter the room, moving a strand of curly black hair out of his eyes to get a better look at me. Escudo was certainly a handsome guy. Hispanic looking with dark hair, blue eyes and a large brick shaped jaw that would probably break my fist if I tried to punch it. When he saw me he quickly turned the heat down on whatever he was cooking and walked over to me with a friendly and professional smile on his face.

"I'm Nico, Nico Cortez. Otherwise known as Escudo," he said holding out his hand, "you must be Gert-"

"Just call me Geri," I said cutting him off. I shook his hand. "Or Ripple if you have to. Nice to meet you Nico."

He nodded. "Do you mind if we talk in the kitchen? I don't want to let what I was making burn."

I stole a quick glance at Wendy who just shrugged. "He's got a thing for cooking. It's not like the rest of us don't appreciate it."

Huh. Superhero cooks. Who woulda thought. "Sure lead the way," I said turning back to Nico, doing my best to turn up the friendliness and charm.

After we all walked into the large kitchen I leaned on the island with Wendy nearby while Nico kept an eye on his creamy mushroom stroganoff. It smelled really good so I was happy that it looked like he was making enough to feed everyone.

"So what do you think of the Bay so far?" he asked. Nico was friendly enough but there was a stilted quality to his voice that made me think he was trying to be professional.

"Haven't seen much other than the airport and the highway to get here," I said, "though what little I did see seemed nice enough. Cool architecture." It wasn't entirely true but I was trying to be nice. Some of what I'd seen off the highway had been a desolate urban wasteland. I _had_ seen a pretty neighborhood or two though.

"No no no you can't give a boring answer like that. You're _supposed _to say that all the people you've met so far are awesome," said Wendy rolling her eyes in humorous exasperation.

"Lying is beneath me," I said in a deadpan voice. Wendy punched my arm again though not too hard this time. That seemed to be a thing for her. Nico I noticed barely cracked a smile. Serious dude that one.

"Constellation wants you on the patrol roster as soon as possible," said Nico turning things to business, "I'm sorry to rush you but she doesn't mess around about these things. Unless something comes up I'm supposed to take you through a training session today and get a feel for your powers. Then I'll make sure you get a copy of all the policies and procedures we use here. They're probably similar to the ones you're used before to but these things can change slightly from city to city."

Wow. Not even a few minutes for small talk before getting down to business then. Either Nico is extremely business focused or Constellation has been riding him about this. Or both.

"Why the rush?" I asked him, "I mean I'm not going to make a big deal about it but I figured I'd at least get the rest of the day to get settled in and deal with the jet lag."

"Because Constellation's got a major hate-on for T-Rex," said Wendy, "she wants to know if you can actually shut the stupid dinosaur down."

"Tyrant Rex causes massive collateral damage whenever he appears. It's frankly a miracle civilian casualties have been relatively low so far," said Nico with a frown, "but it's only a matter of time before he collapses a building full of people inside. He's a menace. Hopefully your power will give us a counter to his."

"Woa woa hold up a second," I said holding up my hands, "first off who is this guy? I read about the heroes in the Bay but didn't have, eh, too much time to do research on the bad guys. And secondly why do you think I can counter his powers?"

Wendy and Nico exchanged a look.

"No one told you about that?" asked Nico sounding troubled.

"About what?" I asked a little impatiently.

"Some Protectorate people – Thinkers probably – thought your power would be able to counter his. That's why you were sent here in the first place," said Nico sounding concerned.

I rubbed my forehead. Fucking Director Downey back in St. Louis. He conveniently forgot to mention that to me and my mother when he was pushing for this transfer.

"I guess my memo got lost in the mail," I said bitterly.

Wendy hip checked me in a friendly way which I found myself feeling grateful for. "The Protectorate and PRT can be stupid sometimes. No surprise there," she said trying to lighten my mood.

Nico for his part looked uncomfortable so he settled for going back to business. "Well in any case Tyrant Rex is the leader of The Gore. We don't know who he is but the analysts all seem to think he's ex-military. He turns into a thirty foot tall creature that looks like, well-"

"He looks like three story tall mutated Tyrannosaurus Rex that has horns and arms long enough to drag on the ground," summed up Wendy.

"Right," continued Nico, "and when he's transformed he has insane almost instant regeneration which makes him extremely hard to put down. He's also big and strong enough to simply walk out of whatever containment foam we can get on him. That's not the worst part though," he paused for a moment, "the worst part is that when he stomps on the ground he can create what we're calling 'localized seismic events'. He can create the equivalent of an earthquake anywhere nearby and isn't shy about using his power in a fight. Understandably that kind of ability makes the people in the Bay nervous given that an earthquake sunk a fifth of this city just eight years ago."

I turned that information over in my head. "So, what people think I can use my power to cancel out his 'localized seismic events'?" I asked feeling a little incredulous.

Nico shrugged. "The Thinkers think you might have a good chance. If you can't you can't. All we can ask is for you to give it your best shot. Tyrant Rex isn't someone to take needless risks with or underestimate."

I shook my head. "I don't think it will work but I'll try. I can't really _sense_ vibrations on the ground unless they are really close to me. Mostly I just shoot mine out like a bullet," I laughed humorlessly, "I can't believe I was brought out here to fight a cape as big as an Endbringer."

"Hey," said Wendy giving me a shoulder bump, "don't freak out ok? Me and Escudo, all of us we got your back."

"No, I'm not-," I said, then took a deep breath and let it out, "I'm not freaking out. More like I'm incredulous and a little pissed that no one bothered to tell me about this. Am I worried about being set up against a thirty foot lizard? Well fuck yeah. But I'll cope," I said trying to give them a confident smile.

Nico smiled back. "Wendy's right. You're part of this team now. As long as you're here we'll have your back," he said sounding a little awkward about it. I could tell Nico wasn't very good at any kind of personal mushy stuff but I could tell he was sincere and I appreciated the effort.

Still _I_ wasn't very comfortable with all the mushy stuff either so I changed the subject. "So Wendy mentioned something about The Gore being the ones stirring up all the trouble around here? What's the deal with them?"

Nico moved around the kitchen and started filling a huge pot with water. "Well Tyrant arrived in town about a year ago with two other capes and together they essentially started a war in the Bay area underworld. They threw the balance of power into chaos. When the dust settled a few months later the six gangs that had been a staple of the Bay for more than a decade were down the three; the newly formed Gore led by Tyrant, the Blood Brotha Kings led by Black Spear and Reina, and the Dragons of Heaven led by Qian."

I couldn't help it; my muscles tensed at the mention of the last one. Thankfully neither of the Wards seemed to notice.

"Everyone knew Tyrant was ambitious and was just waiting for the right time to make a move," Nico continued as he set the water to boiling, "then a few months ago his people started pushing into BBK territory. Not only that but The Gore have been getting a lot more bold with the crimes they commit. Like right now the Protectorate is engaging Tyrant down by San Lorenzo at the edge of BBK territory in broad daylight," he said and though he tried to hide it I could tell he was worried.

"So the Dragons aren't fighting?" I had to ask.

"No, not really," said Nico, "they seem to be happy just holding the territory they control. At least for the moment."

I nodded at that and the conversation lapsed into silence for a few minutes. It made some sense now why Wendy had said Constellation had a 'hate-on' for T-Rex. He was the one escalating things. The one rocking the boat so to speak. Also there was the issues of massive property damage. Even if Wendy could fix some of it after the fact I seriously doubted that was much of a consolation for the powers that be. Plus less than a decade after a devastating earthquake a villain cape who can cause small ones had to make people wonder if he could somehow trigger another city devastating earthquake either on accident or on purpose. From what Nico had said it sounded like The Gore was the main problem.

"How many capes does The Gore have?" I asked.

"Five that we know of. You should really read up on them and all the other capes in the city," said Wendy.

I nodded at that. Definitely good advice. I decided to try and lighten up the mood a little bit. "So who do you guys think is the strongest villain cape in the city?"

Nico and Wendy looked at each other. "Hmm," began Nico, "I'd say T-Rex. We haven't found a good way to put him down and not for lack of trying."

"No way," said Wendy, "it has to be Qian. _No one_ dares to screw around in his territory. That's why Tyrant is going after BBK even though they're in Oakland and he's on the SF side of the Bay. The DOH are closer but even he doesn't want to deal with a fire dragon."

"Ok…" I said guiding the conversation away from that topic, "what about in the Protectorate? Who's the strongest?"

"Probably Constellation," said Wendy with a shrug.

"Hard to say. But yeah probably Constellation," said Nico.

"Ok… dumbest cape?" I asked.

"Eh, Supermax is kind of an idiot."

"Probably Escudo," said Wendy seriously. The leader of the Wards just rolled his eyes probably used to her sense of humor.

"Cape with the most ham?"

"Oh totally Titan. That guy's a riot," said Wendy with a grin naming one of the few independent heroes in the Bay that I knew about.

"I dunno I think his wife has him beat. She literally wears an American flag," said Escudo.

"Scariest cape?"

"Frightdoll," they both said in flat tones at the exact same time. A shudder passed through Wendy and Nico's upper lip curled in displeasure at the name.

"Why? Who's Frightdoll?" I said, their reaction making me extremely curious.

"Scariest Tinker you'll ever meet," said Nico suddenly sounding serious and business like, "she rarely shows her face, but she can make-"

He was interrupted when both Nico and Wendy started beeping loudly. Both of them instantly reached into their pockets and pulled out their phones. I watched Nico as he scrolled through a text message he had just gotten. His face went from generally relaxed to grim in a matter of moments.

"Shit," he said, the word coming out accented with his distress, "they planned this out really well."

"Why? What is it?" I said pushing away from the counter I was leaning on. I could already feel that familiar rush as adrenaline was pumped through my body.

"The Gore are attacking an industrial park on the other side of the city from where the Protectorate are," he said while quickly turning off the burners in the kitchen, "Tyrant must have shown himself to draw everyone away. He must have known that his presence would mean a full Protectorate response. Also two of us Wards Osteo Girl and Tranquil are even further away doing some charity thing for the Mayor," He looked at me and Wendy. When I looked at her the girl had a stony look of resolve on her face that I'd never seen on her before.

"Me, Rewind and Shades are the only ones left who can respond," Nico said, his voice grim.

"Fuck well let's not waste any time then," said Wendy, "I'm going to get suited up. Meet you in the garage in five," she said before turning and running off to her room.

Nico looked at me, a conflicted look on his face. "Geri, I hate to ask this of you and you don't have to if you don't want to but-"

"Shut up," I said cutting him off. I stood up as tall as my five foot seven frame would allow and looked him in the eye, "of course I'm coming to help. You don't even have to ask."

He looked at my face searchingly for a few moments before breaking into a relieved if strained grin. "All right then," he said, "let's do this."

OOOOOOOO


	4. Welcome to the Bay 104

1.04

OOOOOOOO

It was tense as we sat in the back of the heavily modified and armored PRT van on the way to our destination. My costume had been shipped with the rest of my stuff that hadn't arrived yet so I'd really had to wing it. I was wearing a black SWAT helmet and face-covering hood like the PRT guys sometimes used along with a borrowed set of standard body armor. Other than that I was wearing jeans, black sneakers, a black coat and black fingerless gloves that I owned. Not exactly a top of the line Protectorate costume and some of the PR guys would have a heart attack at seeing me dressed in black tactical gear but I didn't exactly have a lot of options. Not if I wanted to come along and make sure my new teammates didn't get hurt.

I looked at Shades sitting across from me who was poking inside a Tinker-tech gun with a pair of pliers. The gun was mostly yellow with little accents of purple and I couldn't help but think it looked like a toy in his small hands. Shades was Peter Hasbro, the only Tinker in the San Francisco Wards and by far it's youngest member at only twelve years old. He was also the least experienced member and it showed in how obviously nervous he was. Hoping that I could say something to help put him at ease I spoke up.

"How you holding up Shades? Is this your first time in a cape fight?" I asked casually.

It seemed an effort for him to tear his eyes away from his gun to look at me. I couldn't see his face since he was wearing his helmet, a yellow high tech mix between a modern biker helmet and a medieval fantasy one with purple accents. The reflective surface that covered his eyes was shaped to look like a pair of fancy sunglasses to go along with his chosen cape name.

"My second technically," he said sounding apprehensive, "but the first one we were just there as backup for Magicman and Ursa. All I did was take a few pot shots at some thugs."

That sucked. Peter was greener than _me_ when it came to cape fights and I'd only been involved in two serious enough to deserve the name. I couldn't help but feel that there was something profoundly wrong about sending a twelve year old kid out to fight hardened criminals no matter what kinds of things he could build. I'd always known the Protectorate wasn't perfect but some days it seemed less perfect than others.

"Just don't take any big risks. Getting out in one piece is more important than taking them down or stopping them from getting away," I said. Somehow my advice felt hollow and inadequate.

Peter sighed and seemed to sag under the weight of the Tinker tech armor he was wearing. "Yeah. I still have to try my best though. It's my duty to be a hero," he said, making the phrase sound like something he had heard many times before. I wished that I could have seen his expression underneath his helmet.

"Well I may be new to the team but I got your back," I said, offering him a smile before remembering he couldn't see it behind the hood I was wearing.

"Thanks," he said simply, though he did sound grateful and maybe just a hint more animated. With that he went back to tinkering with his gun and I decided to leave him alone lest his gun doesn't work when he needs it to because I kept distracting him.

I took a look at Escudo who was sitting next Shades typing furiously on a tablet computer and talking to someone on the phone. His uniform was one of the more wholesome and family-friendly ones I had seen. He wore entirely white armor polished to a mirror sheen. His boots and gloves were blue as was the round shield pattern on his chest with the white silhouette a rearing horse which was his personal symbol. His helmet was a mix of blue and white that left his mouth uncovered and had spikes that resembled a crown reaching upwards. All in all he looked extremely heroic and ready to kick some ass. Somehow that managed to make me feel a _little_ bit better about the upcoming fight.

Knowing better than to distract him I turned and looked at the last member of our group. Wendy, or Rewind as she was known in costume, wore a surprisingly dark colored outfit. It was a hard shell that hugged her figure and covered her from neck to toe. The armor was done in tones of black and grey that were broken up by parallel stripes of white and red paint that went up and down her arms and legs. Her helmet looked almost exactly like those used by jet pilots but without the breathing mask. It was colored in a matte grey with a black visor and an artistic red spiral painted on her forehead. Rounding out the outfit was a black cape wrapped around her shoulders. Next to her thigh rested a huge crossbow that looked about two sizes too big for her. I guess if they wanted to keep her from getting up close and personal they had to give her some way to contribute while hanging but I was skeptical about how useful such a large contraption would be.

"Nervous?" I asked her.

"The Gore are dangerous and a lot of their members act like animals. Hell yeah I'm nervous," she said though I did notice she at least looked calmer than her words implied. "What about you?" she said turning to me.

"Yeah pretty nervous too," I said with an anxious laugh. "I don't even know what capes we're going up against or what they can do."

She gave me a small reassuring smile. "Don't worry Escudo will brief us on it before we get there. All that multitasking he's doing right now is to get all the intel we need for when we get on site," she said gesturing at Escudo with her chin. Indeed he was talking with someone on the line and while his phone cradled in his shoulder he was typing something furiously on the tablet sitting on his legs.

I thought about what we were heading into and realized I potentially had a really large hole in my knowledge. "Can you go over what Escudo and Shades can do?" I asked Rewind, "All I know is what I got from PHO and _CapeWiki_."

"Uh, yeah sure. Those places always miss things," she said absentmindedly. "Well for starters Escudo is a Mover, a Blaster and a Shaker. He can fly and create a round energy shield just big enough to protect himself. His most useful power is his blaster power though. He can create energy beams that explode with concussive force, loud sounds and light. Essentially he can make his beams become flashbang grenades with an extra concussive kick. Best part is he can control the direction most of the light and sound goes so even if we're looking directly at his blasts we won't be blinded as long as he's paying attention."

That sounded like a pretty amazing power set for a Ward and a hero. He was almost perfectly designed for non-lethal takedowns and his power would be hella useful in almost any fight. That taken with his super heroic costume I was willing to bet Escudo was the poster boy for the SF Wards.

"As for Shades," she continued stealing a glance at the boy who looked oblivious to the world as he worked on his equipment, "Bulletime thinks his specialty is 'platforms'. Shades is a relatively new Tinker so his equipment is still somewhat limited. However he has a flying platform he rides on that is outfitted with a strong force field and a flying drone that shoots non-lethal lasers. Plus that laser pistol he's fiddling with. As far as I know that's all the equipment he's made that's been approved."

"It is," said Shades without looking up from is work.

"So there you have it. As for me," she said hefting up the huge crossbow with some visible effort. Despite the situation a wicked grin spread across her face, "this baby shoots an arrow outfitted with a Tinkertech arrowhead. Bulletime made them for me. The arrowhead explodes in a field of electricity that works like a taser on anyone within four feet. Best part is that my power means I never have to reload, I can continually shoot my electro-bolts over and over again. I even have a couple of different types of ammo for Alexandria here in case I need them."

"You named your crossbow Alexandria?" I asked, my voice laced with incredulity and amusement.

"All right everyone listen up!" Escudo said drawing everyone's attention. "We're only a few minutes out so let me brief you on all the information we've got,"

"Twenty minutes ago The Gore hit a heavily secured site of West Coast Industries. We've determined that what they are after is a number of extremely valuable rare earth metals and rare isotopes of different elements. These substances can be used for building delicate and advanced hi-tech devices and there are easier places to hit if they were simply after money. We can only conclude that these raw materials are for Frightdoll to make more of her creations, possibly even more advanced versions of what we've seen so far."

The two other wards Wards seemed to get a combination of worried and resolute at the announcement. That was the second time I'd heard Frightdoll mentioned. I wanted to ask more but it really wasn't the time.

"We need to do our best to make sure don't get away with what they are after," Escudo continued. "It is confirmed that they are still on site which means they're probably having trouble opening the vault where West Coast Industries is storing those elements in. So far we have three Parahumans confirmed on-site,"

"First we have Ink, one of the original members of The Gore. His power is that he can tattoo regular humans and as long as they are near him they gain a Brute rating of 1-2. He can also somehow mentally coordinate all his troops as long as they are nearby. The more tattooed people he has nearby the stronger his Brute rating gets so every one of his tattooed lackeys you can get far enough away from him or knock unconscious means he gets weaker. By himself he's not as strong as other capes but don't underestimate him. He's vicious and smart and intelligence thinks he used to be Special Forces. Ink is a high priority to take down right away as that will weaken his troops and disrupt their coordination. Do not underestimate the men under his command or things will go badly for you,"

"Next we have the third founding member of The Gore, Cat Sith. Sith is a Master who can create smoky black projections that look vaguely cat-like. They are not-quite smoke, not-quite solid and are difficult to disrupt. Even if you do manage to disrupt them Cat Sith can just conjure them again in under a minute. The projections are extremely mobile and dangerous so make sure not to let them get on you. Thankfully Cat Sith can't control them properly if he can't see them. The best way to deal with the threat is to go after the Master himself. Again don't underestimate him, intelligence also seems to think he's had some military training,"

I was starting to see a pattern here. Was all of the leadership of The Gore ex-military, including T-Rex? It certainly sounded like it. The last President had certainly liked to send America's military to fight abroad while trying to promote global stability in the face of Endbringer attacks. The worst had been the failed US defense of Israel after all the surrounding countries decided to use their capes to finally wipe the country off the map. Remembering the scenes on TV when I was a girl I could easily see a lot of men and women in uniform triggering during that hellhole.

"Finally we have a new unidentified cape, abilities unknown," said Escudo sounding grim. "All that we know is that he appears to be made of metal or mercury. Possibly a Breaker state or a Case 53. Assume he has a Brute rating and engage him from a distance if at all possible. Use extreme caution, engaging a cape with unknown abilities is possibly the most dangerous situation we can walk into,"

"Also sighted with them were about a dozen men. A couple of pistols and automatic rifles were spotted along with more conventional weapons like lead pipes and knives. These guys have all been boosted by Ink and some may be ex-military so don't let your guard down. Remember they are going to be faster, stronger and tougher than regular non-powered people so treat them accordingly. Our game plan is going to be disrupting the robbery and attempting to get them to flee. The Gore are tough and slippery and going after their capes too hard without backup nearby could easily backfire. Capturing their capes would be a bonus in this case but not the highest priority. If we can stop them from getting what they came here for we can call this one a victory," he said.

I was glad the mask hid the displeased look on my face. Logically it was a good call. It didn't sound like we had any cape backup nearby so going in balls-deep to take down all their capes could easily turn deadly. However fighting not to defeat the enemy but instead to just scare them off didn't sit right with me. It was a smart choice but I couldn't help but feel it was somewhat distasteful and cowardly.

My dad had taught me that when you fight you fight to win. If you're not willing to go all the way you shouldn't fight at all in the first place.

All of a sudden I felt the van lurch to a stop. Rewind hefted up her crossbow, Shades holstered his pistol and Escudo stood up looking tall and imposing in his white armor.

"All right team," he said punching a gloved fist into his hand, "let's go be heroes."

OOOOOOOO


	5. Welcome to the Bay 105

1.05

OOOOOOOO

Standard operating procedure in cape confrontations meant that the PRT agents would hang back until the members of the Protectorate called them in to assist. Or in this case until they were called in by us, the Wards responding to the incident. Three squads of PRT officers took positions around the building while hiding out of sight. While they wouldn't be much direct help at the very least they could work as useful spotters.

As the four of us poured out of the van Shades pressed a few buttons on some kind of wrist mounted computer he had on his armor. From the roof of the van rose a circular metal contraption that looked like an upside down UFO about four feet across. It floated down next to him and when it was close enough he jumped up on it. The platform sunk a little under his weight but quickly stabilized and held him up easily. A two foot long vaguely pill shaped drone detached itself from underneath the floating device and rose up to circle around the UFO- shaped platform. Shades did cut a good looking figure standing atop his platform in his yellow and purple-accented armor though it could only do so much to hide the fact there was a twelve year old boy underneath.

Escudo stepped forward and grabbed everybody's attention. "Ok, it looks like they gained access to the facility through the loading bay. We're going to check things out through there first. Remember we're using the buddy system for this one so me and Shades are together and Ripple is with Rewind. If the four of us need to split up for whatever reason that's fine but _don't_ separate from your partner. We're going to go in quick and quiet and remember to keep in radio contact at all times," he said, his tone commanding and professional.

"Got it boss," said Rewind, her tone almost light despite the situation. Shades and I just nodded our agreement.

"All right let's move out. Don't cross in front of the loading bay doors until we check things out. It's a good bet they have people waiting for us," he said. With that he turned and took to the sky floating a few feet off the ground before moving forward. The platform Shades was standing on gave a mechanical whirl as it floated up and moved to follow closely after Escudo, the pill shaped drone following obediently after him. I turned to Rewind who gave me a nervous but excited smile before she began to stalk after her teammates. Bending my legs and lowering my center of gravity a few inches on instinct I began to follow the three of them bringing up the rear.

Escudo floated high and peeked around the corner of the building we were currently standing behind. After a few seconds I heard the build-in radio click in my ear.

_"__All clear," _came his voice on my headset, _"__the loading bay is at an angle to us about fifty yards away. We go in low and fast, me and Shades on point. Remember there may be shooters and capes waiting for us so don't cross their field of fire." _

I saw Shades draw and ready his gun and the air in front of Escudo seemed to shimmer with blue fractals as he used what had to be his personal shield. Floating a few feet off the ground the two of them rounded the corner, me and Rewind directly behind them. Half a football field away was a fairly ordinary looking white office building two stories tall with the loading bay clearly visible on the far side from where we were. The two fliers began to move in that direction at a good clip forcing Rewind and I to jog to keep up with them.

My stomach was doing flip flops from nervousness. This was the first time I'd been deployed as a Ward against other capes with no other heroes for backup nearby. As our boots hit the asphalt in the middle of the day I couldn't help but feel both terrified and giddy about what we were walking into. In a way as strange as it sounded I felt like I was in my element. I'd never had a particular liking for violence but I was someone who needed to have excitement and action in her life. This kind of dangerous and possibly life-or-death scenario was just the type of thing that called to me. Screw upholding the law and having people put you on a pedestal. To me the thrill of situations like these was the very best part of being a hero.

We reached the side of the building and Rewind and I pressed our backs against the wall as the two fliers floated nearby. With a hand signal from Escudo Shades fiddled with his computer and the drone flew up to the roof. A few moments later a nod from Shades gave the all clear.

_"__All right looks clear on the roof," _said Escudo over the radio, _"__we're taking positions on either side of the bay. Rewind and Ripple stay here. Ripple, do you think you can use your power safely if there are people waiting for us inside?" _

I fiddled with my headset until I found the transmit button. "Yeah that shouldn't be a problem unless there's a lot of dangerous loose objects laying around."

_"__Ok then, get in position. Shades you're with me." _

I inched my way to the very edge of the open bay while Shades and Escudo flew over the opening to position themselves on the other side. After they were in position Shades pushed some buttons on his computer causing the drone to descend from the roof and hover just above the open bay doors. As I watched it lowered itself so it's the lens on one end could see inside for just half a second before floating back up out of sight.

_"__Looks like eight guys behind cover. I don't think they're capes," _Shades's voice came over the radio, _"__looks like two assault rifles, one submachine gun and the rest have pistols. They're all wearing some kind of heavy duty goggles. Heavily polarized, probably. I don't think they know we're here yet." _

_"__Looks like they came ready for you Escudo," _came Rewind's voice over the radio.

_"__Yeah. Too bad something like that isn't going to make much difference with my power. All right we're going to go for a one-two punch. I'm going to go first and light them up with everything I've got. Ripple, you go in next and take care of anyone that is still able to fight. Keep in mind all these guys are hiding behind some kind of cover." _

"That won't be a problem," I said into the radio, a tiny smile curling on my lips.

_"__All right," _he said, and for the first time I could detect a hint of nervousness on his voice, _"__go in after the light dies down. I'm attacking on my mark. Three – two – one – mark!" _

I saw Escudo activate his transparent blue fractal force field and step around the corner. He held his fists tightly by his side and they began to glow a blinding white interspersed with motes of blue, red and yellow. I heard guns go off, half a dozen gunshots loud and unexpected enough from the enclosed space to make me flinch. Escudo's blue shield rippled with light where the bullets struck but the shield held strong. After a second of charging Escudo threw his fists out towards the inside of the loading bay. What came out of his hands wasn't two solid beams of light but instead what looked like countless streaming white sparks with the occasional red, blue or yellow streaks intertwined within. They impacted the inside of the loading bay with a muffled _whump_ I could feel in my bones followed a split second later by the sound of a nearly deafening explosion and enough bright light to make me see starts even from behind cover. That was with Escudo directing most of the light and sound _away_ from our direction.

After the light faded I rounded the corner and ran into the bay. The bright light and the darkness of the inside had me effectively blinded. I cursed internally that I wouldn't be able to pick whoever still had a fight left in them individually.

Oh well. One of the advantages of my power was wide area destruction.

I got a mental 'feel' for the type of wave I wanted and tapped my foot on the floor. My power effortlessly flowed out of me and into the ground causing the concrete floor in front of me to bend and ripple. Concrete cracked as a three foot high wave with a mostly gentle slope shot out across the large bay with the speed of an Olympic sprinter. Even with my ruined night vision I could make out shapes of people and crates as they were flung into the air, cries of surprise and pain filling the air as they were all unexpectedly hit by an unstoppable force at thigh height. I'd long since mastered the art of giving thugs good hangtime when using my powers on them without breaking too many bones. The gang members and incidental objects all crashed to the ground painfully with differing levels of noise as my new teammates rushed in to finish off any stragglers.

Thankfully there weren't any. The combination of Escudo's concussion/noise/light blasts and being hit by my wave seemed to have taken the fight out of all of them. My vision began to clear and I could make out the men all dressed in black in various states of groaning pitifully on the floor and cradling their injuries.

_"__Good job Ripple," _came Escudo's voice over the radio, _"__Shades keep watch and send your drone to scout ahead but make sure it doesn't get spotted. Rewind, Ripple, help me secure these prisoners and collect their weapons. Shoot them with your electro-bolts if it looks like they're going to try anything funny." _

_"__My pleasure,"_ said Rewind in a tone of voice that made it clear she hoped she would get an excuse to shoot them.

Shades floated higher in the bay to carry out his job while the rest of us set about securing the gang members. Pulling out a bunch of zip ties I had stuffed in my pocket I started tying both their wrists and their ankles together for good measure. By the way the thugs were acting I was betting they all had burst eardrums and were still having a hard time seeing. Still even severely weakened and bruised they weren't exactly cooperative and I had to put my knee into the back of more than one of them while tying their hands together.

"Hey Ripple, watch this," I heard Rewind say. I looked up to see her hefting her oversized crossbow up and pointing it at something.

"Rewind, what-" I started and then I saw what she was aiming at. A dazed looking thug in the corner had crawled to his dropped submachine gun and was making a grab for it. On instinct I almost sent a wave of earth to stop him when Ripple fired her crossbow.

It looked like something out of an old Earth Aleph science fiction movie. As soon as the arrow left the crossbow it crackled with blue electricity that left a streaming azure light trail as it moved through the air. The bolt hit the thug in the chest just as his hand closed around the gun. Instead of piercing his chest a round sphere of electricity four feet across erupted form where the arrowhead made contact. The thug twitched and spasmed as he was caught in the middle of the electric maelstrom. The electric sphere held its shape for half a second before winking out leaving bright spots in my eyes. The thug slumped over twitching occasionally and by all appearances very much out of commission.

"I think he's the last one we need to tie up," said Rewind as she stalked over to the guy she had just shot. Looking around I realized she was right. Standing up from where I had just tied up my last guy I found myself following after her.

As I neared the electrified thug I saw the spent arrow next to him suddenly disappear. I made a startled noise causing Rewind to look back at me. In her hand I noticed her crossbow was once again loaded and ready to fire.

"When I reset something it pulls back the same matter that was there before to make whatever I'm touching like new again," she said answering my unasked question, "I can't just create new things out of thin air. If I could I would have made myself a millionaire in the first week." Her voice was light and humorous with a hint of teasing. Either that is how she dealt with things or she'd really enjoyed using her toy on that idiot who had reached for his gun.

"Cut the chatter. Get the last prisoner secured and take their weapons. We still have the capes to deal with," said Escudo.

At that moment the radio in my ear cracked to life._ "__Ward team, this is PRT squad one," _said the new voice in my ear, _"__we have just spotted Cat Sith leaving through a side door on the north side of the building. Repeat, we have just spotted Cat Sith leaving through a side door on the north side of the building." _

"_Shit,_" cursed Escudo. He seemed to hesitate for a second before turning to us. "Rewind, Ripple go after Sith. We'll finish here and join you. Double time it they might be making their play to escape with the loot."

"Got it," said Rewind all humor gone from her voice. Without another words she turned and ran back outside. I hesitated for half a second before running after her.

It seemed a little reckless but we ran for all we were worth towards the north side of the building. My legs were longer than Rewind's and I'd always been a good runner so I quickly outpaced her and left her behind. I would have kept pace with her but my blood was running too hot and the thought of letting the capes escape without a fight was almost abhorrent. Maybe I wasn't as experienced as some of the others but I was still a fighter down to my bones.

I passed the edge of the building and skidded a few feet to a stop. At the other end of the building I spotted a man looking at me who could only be Cat Sith. He was of average build, tall and wore a long and narrow Indonesian-style tribal mask with thick lips. His outfit was black combat fatigues with a beat up looking wide brimmed hat. About half-way between us stood a smoke-like… thing. Standing five feet at the shoulder and nearly as wide it gave the impression of danger and coiled power. It was reminiscent of a feline in shape but the edges were all blurry like it couldn't quite decide to have any defined edges. Then I noticed another one of the smoke-cat things, hard to spot as it stood under the shade of a tree next to Cat Sith. I could make out something strapped across it's back, something that looked like extremely oversized saddle bags.

It had to be the stolen goods. Apparently they'd managed to get the vault open after all.

The closest smoke-cat looked at me and even tilted it's head in a distinctly animal-like fashion. Then it charged at me without any visible commands from Cat Sith. It was shockingly fast as it moved towards me but the projection still had a lot of ground to cover. With a thought a six foot wave of earth shot towards the feline at over fifty miles an hour. To my surprise the smoke-cat flowed over it like wind passing over a moving car. It lost a step for a moment before rapidly closing the distance between us.

Out of sudden desperation I took a step back and threw an even larger wave of earth at it which the construct once again effortlessly flowed over. Then it was right on top of me slashing down at my chest with one of its huge indistinct paws. I backpedaled furiously but the claw still caught my borrowed body armor. The force of it made me stumble and left deep claw marks on the armor. Before I could back up anymore it lunged and rammed me with its body.

It was like getting hit with a mattress at twenty miles an hour. The creature was surprisingly soft but the impact still sent me flying. I flew a few feet through the air and landed hard on my back, the body armor thankfully offering me some protection. The smoke-cat opened what passed for its mouth and tensed to jump at me.

That's when the bright streak of an electric blue bolt passed through the body of the smoke-cat, visible even while it was on the inside. It didn't seem to hurt it but it distracted it for a crucial second before it turned back and pounced on me. With the tap of a finger on the earth I sent another wave of towards the cat, this time as tall and as slow as I could make it. The ten by ten foot wall of earth seemed to hinder as it pushed towards the smoke-cat at the speed of a fast walk. However as I got to my feet I saw it's smokey claws peek over the top of the earth wave that was already starting to collapse. It pulled itself up and jumped down at me from its perch.

Suddenly Rewind was standing in front of me in between me and the smoke-cat with her hands held out in front of her. I would have yelled at her to get out of the way if I'd had the time but the projection was already almost right on top of her. For a second I thought I was going to see my new friend get shredded when Rewind stepped forward and touched the construct.

At first I wasn't sure what happened. One second the cat-projection was set to tear us apart and the next it disintegrated into plain regular smoke as soon as Rewind touched it. Whatever she did it didn't seem to surprise the girl as she turned and hurried to my side before the smoke had even cleared.

"Are you ok?" she said putting a hand to my chest.

"What did you do?" I asked. It was the only thing I could think to say.

"My power destroys projections," she said simply before stepping away and hefting her crossbow. "You're all fixed up. We still have to deal with Sith. I'll chew your ass out for leaving me behind later," she said in a tone of voice that had me suddenly very much not looking forward to that conversation.

A quick glance down revealed what I had suspected; Rewind had repaired the body armor that the smoke-cat had shredded. That power of hers was extremely handy.

Looking up I saw that Cat Sith was still standing in the same place about fifty yards away looking at the two of us. Directly in front of him two more masses of smoke were gathering and coalescing into denser and more distinct shapes while the shadow-cat with the saddlebags seemed to growl at us from his post next to the Master-type cape. Arrogant bastard. Even though he didn't know anything about me since I hadn't attacked him yet he probably thought he was out of my range.

Big mistake.

Even though it wasn't necessary using my hands or feet when I used my power made it easier to focus and direct it in just the way I wanted to. Stepping forward I threw my fist out at Cat Sith. A two foot wave shot out at him with enough speed to break both his legs. To his credit he tried to jump over it but he didn't count on the wave steadily picking up speed over the distance. The wave hit his feet mid jump, flipping his legs high into the air and sending him crashing into the ground face-first.

That was certainly satisfying. It was clear from how slowly and gingerly he was moving that he'd been hurt somehow. Ripple took aim with her crossbow and fired angling the crossbow somewhat upwards to make up for the distance. While the arrow was in flight the new smoke-cats finished forming. One of them jumped forward and with a motion very much like that of a real cat batted the arrow out of the air.

"Come on lets go," Rewind said, "as long as I touch them I can disrupt them and get a clear shot." Without waiting for a response Rewind ran straight towards the smoke-cats, her black cape billowing dramatically behind her.

I took off half a second after her making sure to keep pace with her this time.

The cats charged us one going for Rewind and the other coming after me. The first one tried to claw Rewind presumably trying to hurt her before she could disrupt it. As soon as its paw touched Rewind it lost all cohesion and went up in a literal cloud of smoke.

The second one came after me and I decided to try a different tactic. I sent ten back-to-back six foot tall waves of earth hurling at it at high speeds. It seemed to slow it down more this time looking like a cat on shaky legs and is bounced up and down on my ripples. When it was nearly past them I threw up another ten foot tall wall of slow moving earth. Like the last smoke-cat this one jumped on top of it and tensed to pounce on me from above. At that second I cut the energy of the wave.

The whole thing collapsed and the projection fell ten feet looking for all the world like it was surprised at suddenly finding its perch of earth gone. By the time it landed Rewind was there pushing her hand into its side. Its mouth opened into a silent scream of rage as it dissolved back into simple smoke.

I stepped through it and looked to see Cat Sith being dragged around the corner of the building by his final projection ladened with saddle bags. I was starting to suspect I'd broken his ankles if he wasn't walking under his own power. Rewind lifted her crossbow and fired. The smoke-cat's long tail almost casually batted away the electrified bolt before it dragged Cat Sith around the building and out of sight.

"Shit," Rewind cursed before she made to run after them.

"Wait," I said. Rewind stopped and looked at me impatiently.

The corner of the building was still some twenty five yards away. After what happened last time I didn't feel like giving Cat Sith a chance to catch us flatfooted as we predictably came running around the corner of the building a second time. Praying I wouldn't get a speech about excessive property damage I stepped a bit away from the building and tried to guess where in relation to me Cat Sith was currently being dragged by his smoke-cat. Not that it terribly mattered since I could make my waves as wide as I wanted.

Once I had a good estimate I sent a wave about thirty feet across towards the direction I thought Cat Sith was currently at. Of course this meant that my wave would have to pass through the building. The only downside to that was that it would wreck the foundations, the walls and pretty much everything else that was important in a building. The upside was that physical barriers did absolutely nothing to reduce the strength or effectiveness of my waves. My wave passed through a sizable corner of the building causing the whole structure to rise up and fall as the swell of earth passed underneath it.

"Wow," said Rewind sounding a little floored.

"That should have knocked him on his ass pretty good, hopefully enough to keep him down for a while," I said to her. "Come on lets go check on him," I said and took off jogging towards the end of the building, leaving a gawking Rewind behind me.

I hadn't gone more than ten steps when I heard Rewind shout a warning behind me. "Watch out!"

Some instinct told me to throw myself to the ground which I did, flinging myself gracelessly to the side. Behind me I heard the distinct sound of something heavy landing on the ground where I had just been standing. Clumsily rolling to my feet I saw who had attacked me from above; our mysterious third and unknown Parahuman.

He wasn't wearing any mask but he probably didn't need it. Everything about him, his skin, hair, even his eyes were the color and texture of liquid mercury. He wore urban camouflage pants and black boots along with a ratty brown long coat with no shirt underneath. I barely had time to register all this before he charged me.

I didn't think; instinct took over. Instead of backing away I brought my elbow up and stepped into him. My elbow caught him on his nose sending him staggering back a step though I got the impression that reaction was more out of surprise than any real pain. To my surprise his face had not felt any harder than that of a regular person.

Suddenly the new cape spun and I saw the movement just barely got him out of the way of one of Rewind's electro-bolts. As he turned he reached into his coat and pulled out the biggest damn handgun I had ever seen before coming to a stop and leveling it directly at Rewind.

Rewind tried to dodge but I could tell it would be too late. With a thought I sent the fastest wave of earth I could directly at his ankles. The ripple hit his feet and knocked him almost horizontal to the ground sending the pistol shot going wide.

He hit the ground and I began to make the ground undulate violently underneath him. It was a trick I had learned that made it impossible for perps to get back on their feet or do much of anything at all. The mercury cape struggled to move under his own power but the continual waves made it impossible for him to get any meaningful traction. He even let go of his gun to give himself an additional hand to move himself but it was meaningless. Unless he had some kind of Mover power he wasn't going anywhere.

Rewind picked herself up off the ground where she had thrown herself and picked up her crossbow.

"Thanks Ripple," she said.

"No problem," I replied a little more chipper than the situation called for.

Then she shot the mercury cape.

The bolt caught him in the back and the familiar sphere of blue electric current caught mercury cape in the middle of it. He writhed and spasmed more than was normal for a person though eerily his metallic face stayed completely still and expressionless the entire time. After the electricity died down he lay on the ground, limp and unmoving.

"Well, we got one," said Rewind happily.

"Yeah I guess so," I said, "still be careful though."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, "would you mind stopping that wiggly earth thing? It's making me dizzy. I'm going to call in a PRT squad to come foam this guy."

I obliged, keeping a close eye on mercury cape while I stopped creating waves.

_"__PRT squads, this is Rewind," _I heard her on the radio, _"__Requesting a foaming on the north side of the bui-" _

Quicker than a snake the mercury cape _moved_. He produced a revolver and shot me in the chest and then shot Rewind in the stomach before I'd even registered there was a threat. I didn't mess around at that point; I sent a four foot wave directly at him fast enough to kill a regular person. Mercury cape somehow jumped towards the building fast enough to avoid it which would have been impossible for any normal person and most capes. His hands sprouted dozens of inch long metal hooks and he slammed them into the side of the building. With almost physics-defying agility he started digging into the wall with those hooks and climbing up towards the roof.

I rubbed my chest; it hurt bad but not nearly as bad as it could have been. The body armor had done its job and the revolver must have used a smaller caliber bullet. A quick look at Rewind showed that she was rubbing her stomach but was already starting to walk it off. Her armor was even better than the standard PRT gear I was wearing. She was looking up at the mercury cape climbing up the side of the building like a spider. I could tell by the turn of her mouth that she was pissed.

As she went for her crossbow I looked up at the climbing cape and noticed something I'd either missed before or had just begun. There were sounds of gunfire coming from the roof. A moment later there was a bright flash of light I could see over the lip of the building. I knew right away what that meant. Escudo has somehow ended up fighting on the roof and Shades was most likely with him.

Mercury cape was already half way to the roof. Shit. They didn't know he was coming.

Rewind hefted her crossbow and fired a shot at mercury cape hitting him in the lower back. This time however he ignored the electric field all around him and just kept on climbing completely unafected. He clearly had a half way decent Brute rating.

Well that opened up some options for me.

I put my hand on the wall directly underneath mercury cape and pushed the button on my headset. "Escudo do you copy?"

There was a moment of silence before the reply came through. _"__Kind of busy right now Ripple. Fighting Ink and his inked up thugs on the roof," _he said sounding strained.

"Just letting you know you got incoming, mysterious metal cape coming up the side of the building. He's the one you're going to see flying," I said.

_"__Wait, what?" _

Mercury cape had almost reached the lip of the building. With a thought I sent a wave of my power up the side of the roof with as much speed and strength as I thought the mercury cape could handle. The concrete wave hit him just as he was reaching over the side of the building. There was a loud sound like when two heavy objects collide at high speed and mercury cape was send hurling upwards, flipping and twisting uncontrollably in the air as he reached heights of over twenty feet.

_"__Hot damn!" _I heard Escudo exclaim over the radio. The smirk that crawled across my face was completely out of my control.

"Serves that bastard right," said Rewind.

That had looked pretty sweet. I hoped that when he had landed on the roof after his unexpected flight mercury cape had been put out out of commission. If things got too hot I had to trust that Escudo and Shades would be able to fly themselves out of there. "Come on," I told Rewind, "we gotta see if we can catch up with Cat Sith."

We took off jogging and I privately hoped that my last wave had left Cat Sith unconscious somewhere. When we turned the corner where the cape had disappeared around before though he was nowhere to be seen. I was debating what to do next when the radio cracked to life.

_"__They're bugging out. Ink, his men and the unknown cape just jumped off the roof on the south side of the building. I can see Cat Sith there with three of his projections. Looks like they have some vans waiting for them on the other side of a canal on the south side. PRT teams, move in and try t-" _Escudo was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. It sounded like someone had decided to start throwing grenades.

"Oh crap," said Rewind sounding genuinely worried. Without a word she took off running towards the south side of the building with me trailing behind her.

When we got there I could see a canal maybe fifteen feet across and Cat Sith, his smoke-cats, mercury cape and at least half a dozen men pulling themselves out of the water. The men all had tattoos on their faces that even from this far away appeared to moving on their own as if they were living things. One of the men was shirtless, his body completely covered with shifting tattoos and wearing a metal mask engraved with tribal patterns everywhere. That had to be Ink.

For a minute I was undecided on what to do. I couldn't hit them accurately from here. For my wave to pass through solid, then water, then to a solid again it would naturally loose much of its force. The best I could do was overpower the wave to compensate for the power reduction and hope for the best. However I could easily kill someone that way. I didn't want to start my first day as a San Francisco Ward by killing someone.

I looked around for my other two teammates and spotted them flying near the roof of the building. From where I was standing thankfully neither of them looked injured though Escudo was showing visible signs of exhaustion.

I clicked on my radio. "Boss," I said as I watched the men piling into the vans across the canal, "do we pursue? If I can get to the edge of the water I might be able to safely knock over the vans," I said. It went without saying that if I tried to do that I would also probably be dodging bullets.

Escudo was silent for what seemed like a long time before he answered. _"__Negative,"_ he replied, sounding unhappy about it but trying to hide it behind professionalism, _"__too dangerous. The Gore are known for planning numerous escape routes ahead of time and having ambushes ready for any pursuers. I don't like it but the best thing we can do right now is let them go." _

If Escudo and Shades tried to follow them they would be putting themselves in danger and me and Ripple wouldn't be able to keep up with vans. I tightened my fists in frustration. Damn. It almost physically hurt to have to have to stand there and watch The Gore drive away. Why wasn't Escudo blasting them? Where the hell was the PRT?

I almost jumped out of my skin when I felt a hand land on my shoulder. Even though only her mouth was showing I could make out her concerned look. "Hey I hate this too. We all do. Don't worry, we'll get them next time," she said trying to sound sympathetic.

I took a deep breath and let it go as I watched the vans turning a corner in the distance. "Still feels like we lost," I said.

Rewind shrugged. "Maybe yeah. But we all made it out in one piece. That's a win as far as I'm concerned," she said. "Come on," she said gently pulling me away from where I was staring, "the most horrible part of the day is still to come."

I frowned at that trying to think of what she meant. "Paperwork?" I asked.

"Paperwork," she confirmed as she threw her arm around me. "Welcome to the San Francisco Wards."

OOOOOOOO


End file.
